(Auburn, Indiana – IMTM PR) – The International Monster Truck Museum & Hall of Fame’s Board of Directors held a regular meeting on Wednesday, August 15th that was paused and completed during a follow-up meeting on Thursday, September 6th. Directors Jeff Cook, Allen Pezo, Bob Chandler and Ross Bonar were present. The following is a summary of what was discussed.
The first item up for discussion on 8/15 was the completion of a project being headed up by the IMTM Vice President – a time line showing when each of this year’s 20 nominees began their involvement in monster trucks be created. During the previous meeting, the IMTM Board of Directors had decided that these dates would be sent out with the voting ballots to factor into each voter’s decision. The IMTM Research Committee had presented their findings on this project earlier in the summer and approval was needed to finalize the list. During the follow-up meeting on 9/6, the IMTM Vice President stated that he was comfortable with the findings of the IMTM Research Committee and the time line was officially approved.
With the time line approved, the IMTM Secretary suggested, due to the short amount of time left to conduct the vote before the scheduled announcement of the 2012 Class of Inductees on 9/15 at the Indianapolis 4-Wheel Jamboree, that the vote be conducted by email. None of the Directors saw a problem with this, and it was decided that all votes would be sent to the info@monstermuseum.org email that all Directors have access to. A deadline for votes to be submitted was set as Wednesday, September 12th.
The issue of online ticket sales was brought up during the meeting on 8/15 and the IMTM Secretary documented the issues being experienced with the IMTM Paypal account. During the follow-up meeting on 9/6, the IMTM Secretary reported that all issues had been resolved with Paypal and that tickets had officially gone on sale online on 9/3.
During the 8/15 meeting, a clarification to the selection process was proposed stating that only a maximum of one non-owner/driver nominee could be inducted each year, beginning with the current year. Concerns with limiting the induction in such a way were expressed, as well as concerns with making a change at this point in the process for the current year. A motion for a vote was called for and seconded, and the measure passed with 3 in favor and 1 opposed.
The IMTM President raised the idea of creating a basic questionnaire and handing it out to all those who had worked in the industry who were in attendance at the 2nd Annual IMTM Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Reunion. This idea was well received and the IMTM President will work on implementing it.
The next topic of discussion were sponsorships for the 2nd Annual IMTM Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Reunion. The decision was made to continue the $250 package that was available last year and also to create a $500 package that included additional tickets and a private breakfast with the current year’s inductees. During the 9/6 follow-up meeting, each Director was assigned to contact sponsors that had participated the previous year.
Plans for the IMTM display at the Indianapolis 4-Wheel Jamboree were discussed on 8/15, with the IMTM Secretary to continue corresponding with Family Events to make arrangements.
The IMTM President also proposed the idea of creating a program where an IMTM Representative could be on hand for all major monster truck world record attempts to document, and have the IMTM officially recognize the feat. This was met with good reception and the details were further discussed during the follow-up meeting on 9/6.
During the previous meeting, a plan to honor those who had worked in monster trucks over the years who are no longer with us was created. The IMTM Vice President volunteered to follow up on this project and help come up with the official list that will be honored during this year’s ceremony.
Finally, during the 9/6 meeting a suggestion from 2011 Hall of Fame Inductee Everett Jasmer was discussed. Jasmer had suggested creating multiple categories for inductees and called for these changes to be made before this year’s vote was conducted. The Board was of the opinion that similar ideas had been discussed multiple times during the creation of the official selection process and the Board continues to be comfortable with their original decisions, outlined in the selection process press release from April 1st, 2012, referenced here:
“Candidates will be primarily considered based on all contributions to, and accomplishments in, any aspect of the monster truck industry, and will not be inducted by group (i.e. inducted as a driver, promoter, media, etc.). Because people in monster trucks often work in multiple roles over their career, consideration should be given to their entire body of work.”
In follow-up calls and emails after the 9/6 meeting, the IMTM Secretary asked for guidance in drafting the notice of the official results of the vote to the Nominating Committee and also on drafting the official press release that will be made to the public. Concerns of releasing the full results of the vote to the general public were voiced by several Directors, as they did not wish for any of the nominees to feel negatively about any possible lack of support they may end up receiving. The need for this concern to be balanced with a certain level of transparency was also discussed.
Ultimately, the decision was made to go with a compromise for this year – release the full results to the Nominating Committee members through email for transparency purposes, but to only release the names of the 5 inductees to the general public in the official announcement.
Thank you to all of the supporters of the International Monster Truck Museum & Hall of Fame. We look forward to seeing all of you on Saturday, November 3rd for the 2nd Annual IMTM Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony & Reunion.
The IMTM Board of Directors
info@monstermuseum.org